Description
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is a 1948 American film noir crime film directed by Norman Foster starring Burt Lancaster, Joan Fontaine and Robert Newton.
Plot
Bill Saunders (Lancaster) is a former prisoner of war now living in England, whose experiences have left him unstable and violent. He gets into a bar fight in which he kills a man and then flees. He hides out with the assistance of a nurse, Jane Wharton (Joan Fontaine), who believes his story that the killing was an accident.
Saunders is involved in another fight—this time with a police officer. He ends up behind bars, but Jane, who is now in love with Saunders, gets him a job driving a truck delivering drugs for her medical clinic when he’s released.
Meanwhile, hoodlum Harry Carter, who witnessed the earlier bar fight, threatens to expose Saunders to the police. In return for his silence, Carter demands that Saunders cooperate with a planned robbery of his next drug shipment.
When Saunders does do the delivery, Jane rides with him, forcing Saunders to make the delivery as planned to avoid getting Jane involved in the possibly dangerous theft. This betrayal of Carter puts the lives of Saunders and Jane in even greater danger.
Cast
Joan Fontaine as Jane Wharton
Burt Lancaster as William Earle “Bill” Saunders
Robert Newton as Harry Carter
Lewis L. Russell as Tom Widgery
Aminta Dyne as Landlady
Grizelda Harvey as Mrs. Paton
Jay Novello as Sea Captain of Pelicano
Colin Keith-Johnston as Judge
Reginald Sheffield as Superintendent
Campbell Copelin as Publican
Leyland Hodgson as Tipster
Peter Hobbes as Young Father
Critical response
When the film was released The New York Times wrote: “Norman Foster has directed Kiss the Blood Off My Hands with keen appreciation for the story’s emotional content and he has handled the scenes of violence with striking sharpness. The long chase that starts the film on its way, with Lancaster desperately racing through winding streets and alleyways of the London waterfront, vaulting fences and scrambling up on roofs, is high-tension excitement. Mr. Lancaster’s performance is good, but he would do well to drop some of his tenseness and get more flexibility into his acting. Robert Newton, as a cockney schemer who witnessed the killing and attempts to blackmail Saunders, is somewhat flamboyant but still he gets over an effective characterization.”
